The atmosphere is Earth’s breathing system. Every year we emit roughly 40 billion tonnes of CO₂ while forests and oceans quietly scrub about half of it back out of the air — the carbon cycle is the patient’s own immune response, and we are overloading it. These notes explain the two therapies used in this room: Direct Air Capture and mycelium reforestation.
01CO₂ UP 50% SINCE 1850
From ~280 ppm before the industrial era to ~424 ppm in 2024, measured on Mauna Loa. More CO₂ thickens the heat-trapping blanket.NOAA · 2024
02NATURE ABSORBS HALF
Land plants and oceans together soak up about half of all human CO₂ emissions each year — the rest accumulates in the air.GLOBAL CARBON PROJECT
03FORESTS STILL FALLING
The tropics alone lose roughly 4 million hectares of primary forest per year — that is like losing a football pitch of mature lung tissue every few seconds.WRI GLOBAL FOREST WATCH · 2023
- Fans draw air through towers packed with chemical filter material that grabs CO₂ molecules on contact.
- Low-grade heat (~80–100 °C) releases the captured CO₂ as a concentrated stream, and the filter is reused thousands of times.
- Storage: in Iceland the CO₂ is dissolved in water and injected into basalt rock, where it mineralises into stone within years (Carbfix).
THE LIMITATION
Today the world’s DAC plants capture a few million tonnes per year — under 0.01% of emissions. Filters need clean heat and fans need power, so DAC only makes sense where energy is abundant and cheap.
Protect and plant trees locally, cut food waste (wasted food alone causes roughly a tenth of global emissions), shift a few meals a week toward plants, and start a compost — mycelium does the rest.
LIVE DEMO — CO₂ AND FEVERDRAG THE YEAR
424PPM CO₂ · +1.3°C VS 1850
1850 · 2852024 · 4242100?
Each doubling of CO₂ ≈ +3 °C of warming (IPCC AR6 best estimate). Drag to 2100 to see both futures.
SOURCES — NOAA · GLOBAL CARBON PROJECT · WRI GLOBAL FOREST WATCH · IEA · CARBFIX